Quitting a very safe life path to pursue alternatives that were more fitting to my beliefs. I somehow found myself here so things seems to be working out!

Describe your most memorable event:

The first thing that comes to mind is being invited to play live music in a Japanese jazz club. It was a tiny place with a rustic vibe that had no audience other than my friend and me—we had accidentally stumbled upon it. Everybody else in the place was a professional musician. After congratulating one of the drummers—a tiny Japanese lady—she prompted me to play too. Everybody treated me with the utmost respect, even though my level was nowhere close to theirs. We jammed to 'Chicken' by Jaco Pastorius and played to a crowd of less than 10 people. It was probably the most nervous I’ve been in my life!

Describe your first job:

It was working at a beach bar at 14. I worked the early shift so it was mostly non-alcoholic drinks. But, one time a group of tourists asked for mojitos at 1pm. As I didn’t know anything about mixing drinks at the time, I had to ask around and I confused limes for limoncello—the Italian liqueur. I ended up serving them limoncello mojitos, which don’t taste as good as they sound!

A bit about you and Workable. When did you join Workable?

October 2016.

Describe your first day:

I was interviewed and got hired completely remotely. So, until I joined, I hadn’t seen the offices or met my hiring managers in person. The Workable Athens offices are quite spectacular. When I walked through the elevator doors into the office I was immediately taken aback. There was an international vibe, space and lots of friendly faces. I received a very warm welcome and my first challenge was braving the coffee machine, which was almost as sophisticated as the International Space Station. I ended up messing up and almost walking away with half a cup of coffee. I remember someone saying: “You’re brave. It took me a month before I touched that coffee machine”. I knew then that I was among a very good crowd.

Describe your role:

Currently, I’m in Marketing Operations. We make sure that Marketing and Sales communicate effectively by setting up systems, processes and frameworks. We do this to make sure that the efforts of both teams enjoy the biggest returns and, in term, contribute to Workable’s growth.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Setting people up for success through processes.

Have you change your role since starting the company?

Oh, yes.

Marketing Operations is my third role since joining Workable. I was initially part of the Business Development team. From day one in my role as consultant on the team, and later as team leader, I got to scale the team up, which was a privilege and a great learning experience.

I spoke with many professionals in many different industries throughout the world; from conglomerate CTOs to small boutique restaurant owners. I learned how, regardless of circumstance, they all face the same challenge—finding and hiring great talent. It was amazing to see how implementing the appropriate software can make a world of difference to a company, and also to an individual’s working life.

What are your biggest achievements since working here?

Scaling two teams in a hypergrowth setting and achieving some pretty remarkable results. Also, working with a diverse team of extremely capable individuals who feel more like family than work colleagues.

What’s on your desk?

Gifts from colleagues and memorabilia from Workable events. Oh, and a 20-sided dice from a tabletop board game—rolling it helps me when I’m trying to solve arbitrary dilemmas.

What have you learned since joining Workable?

Too many things to mention. I believe that after my Workable journey is over I’ll need a couple of months just to process and digest it all.

What training have you done and how did it impact your work?

Most notably, Sandler methodology. It’s a sales framework that focuses on the individual’s needs and not on the product or the company’s agenda—these come second. It’s applicable to any aspect of life and has greatly helped in smoothing out a lot of challenges that a young professional in his late 20s would face.

I love the way our team works together. We all respect each other’s work and are willing to help each other when needed. When we have to face a new challenge, we discuss what we think is the best thing from everyone’s perspective to get the best result.

I try to grab opportunities when they present themselves and I knew I had to give this a try. I had several interviews. The interview process was different from other jobs I’d interviewed for – it was genuinely a great experience.